Port Adelaide Enfield Council to rally for Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre

ANY moves to shut the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre will severely impact the inner-north community and be fiercely opposed by Port Adelaide Enfield Council, Cr Mark Basham says.

Cr Basham, whose Northfield ward covers the community in and around the Hampstead, said it had to remain open for patients who had specifically moved to the area to be close to its services.

He said he would raise a notice of motion opposing any closure at the November council meeting and would look at starting a petition.

"A lot of people who need rehabilitation move into the area so it's just a short taxi ride for them to get to their appointments," Cr Basham said.

"We have a huge number of disability housing in this area because they've moved here specifically because it's near the hospital."

"(An) area like ours, the working-class suburbs, are the ones that always seem to get shafted by the Government," Cr Basham said.

"There's little open space, they close public schools down; let's see them doing this in Burnside."

As reported by Messenger Community News, doubts over the future of the Hampstead were sparked when Health Minister John Hill spoke at the opening of the rehabilitation and allied health building at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital last week.

Mr Hill said the Government would now need to consider whether services would be "best met by relocation to the QEH, making it the state's major rehabilitation hub".

Mr Hill later told the City North Messenger "there was always a question about what we do with the Hampstead". "It would make sense to combine the resources of the Hampstead and St Margaret's with an updated QEH," he said.

Mr Hill said updating the Hampstead would cost about $150 million. "What this is about is a conversation," he said. "People who are concerned need to become part of the conversation."

Allan Hunter, of Greenacres, began attending the centre after he broke his neck in a skydiving accident in 1998 and said it was crucial to live close to Hampstead.

He said the news of a possible shift could put a stop to his plans to build a wheelchair-accessible house in the Lightsview housing development within the next year.

"It may mean shifting," he said.

"I'd have to seriously look at not building at Lightsview and building around the QEH."

News.com.au's Privacy Policy includes important information about our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information (including to provide you with targeted content and advertising based on your online activities). It explains that if you do not provide us with information we have requested from you, we may not be able to provide you with the goods and services you require. It also explains how you can access or seek correction of your personal information, how you can complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles and how we will deal with a complaint of that nature.